ON THE ROCKS creates bold queer theater that is messy, absurd, terrifying, and hilarious. Our plays take a challenging look at millennial culture inside of systems of homophobia and white supremacy through a lens of deconstructed horror, humor, and sex. It is our mission to build wild, exciting performance that feel like a party for our audiences, while still engaging with important topics and relevant social issues. Our shows are late-night, BYOB & full of surprises. We here at ON THE ROCKS will challenge your expectations, chase them with a shot of tequila, and sending you stumbling off into the night.

The Fringe Festival doesn’t stop when the sun sets! The following shows offer performances starting at 10pm or later. Leave the kids at home and Fringe the night away with these after-dark performances.

A Manayunk Mystery Tour
Manayunk Theatre Company
It was a dark and stormy night when a young woman from Manayunk mysteriously went missing … and was murdered!!! Follow Manayunk’s finest private investigator, a child genius turned conspiracy enthusiast, and a very serious podcast reporter as they try to solve the Murder of Manayunk’s Missing Millennial.More info and tickets here

BASEMENT
Gunnar Montana
Gunnar Montana transports us once again, this time downward into the dark depths of terror. Follow one man’s frightening descent into deranged madness and witness his unrelenting, visceral nightmare unfold.More info and tickets here

Don’t miss this shows touch upon the issues and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community

David’s FriendNora Burns“A feisty and funny one-woman show” (New York Times), David’s Friend is the story of a crazy friendship in 1980s New York City. It’s a comic odyssey about cruising, disco, drag queens, strippers, sex, love, loss, and AIDS, told with videos, costumes, characters, and music that moves your feet to a disco beat.More info and tickets here

Do You Want A Cookie?The Bearded Ladies CabaretPhiladelphia’s Bearded Ladies Cabaret has some treats for you. Do You Want A Cookie? transforms an old factory to concoct the perfect cabaret confections to satisfy your cravings. Part Great Cabaret Bake-Off, part irreverent romp through cabaret history, the show is at once subversive, joyous, provocative, and communal.More info and tickets here

A lot of work goes into each Fringe Festival show. There’s a long process of writing, casting, fundraising, finding a venue, rehearsing, marketing, and countless other tasks before an audience ever arrives.

ON THE ROCKS, the Fringe-tastic theater collaborative of Haygen-Brice Walker and Elaina Di Monaco, knows how the process works. The company’s been a fixture of late night Fringe at the last few Festivals, with their Dead Teenager Trilogy (The Bride’s a Cunt…, 2017; Birdie’s Pit Stop…, 2016; Spookfish, 2015) deconstructing millennial culture in a series of rambunctious, rambling, in-your-face BYOB plays.

Last week saw the cast of ON THE ROCKS’ 2018 Fringe Festival production, WOLFCRUSH (a queer werewolf play), gather for the first time for a full read-through. Conflicting schedules meant the team had to get together at 9am on a Saturday, but mimosas (heavy on the bubbly, light on the OJ) helped fix the mood. They shared some photos of the first rehearsal.

“We all met bright and early in my living room, stocked up on caffeine (and champagne!) and spent the whole afternoon together filling in this world that Haygen-Brice made for us to play in,” says Di Monaco. “We had an incredible dramaturgical discussion afterwards about queerness, small towns, werewolf mythology, and the character web that builds the play.”

Director Elaina Di Monaco at rehearsal.

The rehearsal was the first gathering after casting, but it’s not the start of the process. “Elaina and I have been developing this play for more than two years now and the evolution of the play is deeply rooted in the feedback and suggestions that I get from these guys,” says Walker. “I’m in a lot of writers’ groups and playwrights’ collectives and I find people constantly balk at ‘prescriptive feedback’. I want it. I’m like: ‘No, tell me exactly what you think should happen,’ and if I don’t like it, cool, I won’t use it. I think Elaina and my willingness to let everyone take initiative and speak up makes our room really special and bad-ass.”

This ain’t your grandma’s Fringe. Join us for some of the raunchiest, rowdiest, wildest shows at this year’s Fringe Festival. Hire a babysitter and leave your kids at home because these shows are decidedly NOT family friendly. Viewer discretion advised.

Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret @ FringeArtsMartha Graham Cracker

The hairy-chested, fake eyelash-laden alter-ego of thespian Dito Van Reigersberg performs a balls-to-the-wall drag cabaret. Backed by her stellar band and with her killer voice, Martha Graham Cracker takes you on a raucous, joyous, uninhibited ride around her world.
“The Drag Queen King of Philadelphia.” The Philadelphia InquirerMore info and tickets here.

Two parts sketch comedy, One part drinking games: Mixed and served! Come party with us for a night you might remember with interactive drinking games between comedic romps about the drinking experience. Ticket includes your first beer from Evil Genius! More info and tickets here.

The Groom’s a Fag; The Bride’s a Cunt; The Best Man’s a Whore; and the Maiden of Honor (Just) Hung Herself in the Closet @ The Beard Cave at St. Mary’s ChurchOn The Rocks

Daniel is pretty gay, but he’s marrying Nora. Nora is a virgin that wants her wedding night to be a sexual awakening. Shit gets fucked up. A song, a dance, an image, a poem all wrapped in a sloppy burrito of a play about glamping, hookers, the Easter Bunny, cocaine, Emma Stone, hauntings, and the horrors of commitment. More info and tickets here.

KINK HAÜS @ The Latvian SocietyGunnar Montana

Gunnar Montana transports us once again, this time to a brutal underground nightclub where no fucks are given, and fierceness is always welcome. Fantasy, fetish, and carnal desire are all in fashion so leave your inhibitions at home because inside KINK HAÜS, anything goes. That is, if you can get past the doorman. More info and tickets here.